Vietnam Handbook: The Travel Guide (Footprint Handbooks) (Paperback)

But more than the actual writing of the book, the Footprint design is, in this fairly experienced traveller's view, the best on the market. From the cleverly designed and strong cover that acts as a bookmark, through the accessible and easily-negotiated layout, to the accurate information and helpful use of headings and bold type, this is obviously a book designed by very experienced travellers for serious travellers. I'm a bit of a map junkie, and perhaps my only suggestion for improvement would be to include maps of even higher quality. Another huge advantage of using this book will be obvious to experienced travellers: the accommodation and restaurants mentioned by the likes of Lonely Planet and Let's Go always seem to be filled first (part of the problem of having the market virtually cornered, one supposes) - while what is recommended here seems to be just that little more off the beaten track, perhaps because this series is not yet quite as mainstream as the former two. We found our way, for example, to the most wonderful French-Vietnamese restaurants in Hanoi, in the most beautiful old colonial houses, that offered very reasonable prices - the kind of knowledge that only insiders can give you.

As long time Lonely Planet loyalists, I think we've now made the switch! Highly, highly recommended!

Firstly, for a budget traveller travelling alone, the accomodation listings were woefully inadequate. Many places with dorm beds were either not listed or the fact they had dorms not mentioned. In fact I frequently found the need to ask fellow travellers if I could borrow their Lonely Planet so I could actually find where the good places to stay were. Later I also found myself borrowing Lonely Planets to get a better description of some of the sites I visited. For example the coverage of Cao Daoism, a religion which has about 2 million followers, was far too brief, a little disrespectful and sometimes inaccuarate. The main (purpose built) Cao Daoist Temple was stated as being built about 40 years before the religion was even started. This has not been corrected in the 2004 edition either. Throughout the book it often seems that it has not been very well edited.

Also, the information about transport was badly laid out (information was unecessarily given twice - at the start and end of each place entry) and not given in enough detail. The author often had the idea that hiring a motorbike was the best way to see places and consequently gave inadequate advice about the other forms of transport e.g. local buses, outside the main centres.

Other weaknesses were the quality of the maps and the index.

This book is certainly not all bad though. There is an excellent and very interesting background section containing inteligently written information on the history, politics, economics and social characteristics of Vietnam. The restaurant recomendations are also very good.

In light of all this, I think I would only recommend this book to a foodie who also has a very keen interest in Vietnamese society. For a reasonably experienced backpacker travelling alone this book was a major dissapointment. The fact that I ended up always having to refer to other peoples Lonely Planets speaks for itself.